Micheál Martin

The Deputy's presentation as to archives being sealed is somewhat disingenuous and totally inaccurate. My understanding is that the action the State took - well I know, because it was dealt with by means of legislation introduced by the previous Government - was to protect those archives. If we had not introduced that legislation, they would not be extant now. They would have been destroyed by the…

The Deputy has now said that a decision of An Bord Pleanála is the most callous decision of this Government.

I am sorry; I did not interrupt you.

I did not interrupt the Deputy. She does not have a monopoly on empathy or anger on this issue.

I did not heckle you.

Hang on a second----

Am I not allowed to speak?

Are you going to shout me down all of the time? Do you not believe in freedom of expression for everyone in the House?

It is wrong for the Deputy to misrepresent me and to misrepresent the Government's position on this. We were not involved in An Bord Pleanála's decision.

By the way, while I have not had the opportunity to go through this, the Deputy knows that because of the planning protections in the laws we have passed, if any human remains are found there, work has to stop immediately. There has to be a forensic archaeological strategy involved. That is mandatory. A forensic archaeologist must be present throughout the entirety of the excavation works. All wor…

Having said that, in terms of your basic question on a compulsory purchase-----

I was heckled again.

I am not being given the opportunity-----

There has been a lot of misrepresentation. The Ceann Comhairle allowed the Deputy to speak.

We need a bit of balance here.

I appreciate the constructive manner in which the Deputy has raised the questions, particularly in the context of her question as to how she can work with us. I appreciate that response. She has not attempted to name-call anybody or misrepresent people. I appreciate that. What I was endeavouring to say is that the commission did examine the site extensively, including in the context of cartograph…

We can say it is deeply chilling, but it is with a view to protecting human remains. That is important as well. I think that is something that should be in the planning condition.

If it was not in the planning condition, the developer could do what the developer might want to do if it came upon human remains. That is one of the issues here. We are dealing with a 60-acre site here. I know the site very well. I have known it all my life. Buildings have been put on that site over the years. There are services on that site, funded by the State, in new buildings and so on. I mea…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Government is not lax on crime and has allocated significant additional resources this year and last year, and will continue to do so. Fundamentally, we are recruiting more gardaí which is important. In 2026, we funded the recruitment of a further 1,000 new gardaí and 200 more Garda staff and additional Garda reserve this year. At the end of April, t…

I take the Deputy's point in respect of multiple offences. We will discuss that further, as well as the Deputy's issue of monetary penalties in respect of people's incomes. There has been a general reluctance on that front because you could create unintended consequences for others in the family, including other children in the family who are not breaking the law, but I take the Deputy's point mo…

I think all of us have met with families and young people who have Friedreich's ataxia as a condition and who are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the drug approval process, and there is a process. It is science led, primarily. It is not politically led, primarily. We had an outcome at the last meeting in respect of another drug. All of us want a positive outcome in terms of the deliberations that …

They are not waiting two years specifically. I am not going into the details. It then has to move on-----

It then has to move on to the senior clinical team in the HSE-----

-----and we want the right outcome here. I just make that point.

The Taoiseach to respond.